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Innovative Underground Homes

Underground homes are an alternative to traditional above ground homes, often suited for those seeking to minimize their impact on the environment. Despite their unconventional form, these underground living homes are reminiscent of cave-like structures found in earlier stages of architecture. Materials and technological advances have given architectural designers the ability to recreate these homes, and adapt them to today’s standards of living. Located in the Swiss village of Vals, this home plan came from the work of architects at seARCH and Christian Muller.

Often, these underground homes aren’t completely underground. Instead, they are buried in the sides of hills and mountains, exposing one side to improve interior lighting. There are many advantages that come with these housing units. They range from something as simple as offering a quiet place to live to being able to protect against severe weather conditions. Due to the natural insulation from the Earth, these homes have an almost constant temperature. This decreases the need for heating and cooling throughout various seasons. When combined with renewable sources and solar design, energy costs are greatly reduced. The energy efficiency and eco-friendliness of these homes is one of the biggest appeals for people looking to invest. The savings truly begin at the initial building process where the natural materials that have been extracted can be reused as building materials. Despite all the advantages to this new type of home, underground living does have certain disadvantages. Living underground raises the chances of potential flooding, which has the potential to cause serious damage to the home. Precautions to avoid such situations must be taken such as installing special pumping systems.

The evolution of design is one that is simply unmistakable. Design has revolutionized into not only focusing on making a house look good but also giving it the ability to make those living in it feel good. Underground homes encompass the ideal home for a range of suitable buyers. These living spaces have given people new means of saving money and have given those with concerns, the ability to truly minimize their impact on the environment. Must we add, underground homes have given creative buyers the opportunity to be innovative and simply different.